Exodus 16:23

16:23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, ¹  a holy Sabbath ²  to the Lord. Whatever you want to ³  bake, bake today; ⁴  whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

Exodus 28:4

28:4 Now these are the garments that they are to make: a breastpiece, ⁵  an ephod, ⁶  a robe, a fitted ⁷  tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make holy garments for your brother Aaron and for his sons, that they may minister as my priests.

Exodus 28:43

28:43 These must be on Aaron and his sons when they enter ⁸  to the tent of meeting, or when they approach ⁹  the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they bear no iniquity and die. ¹⁰  It is to be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants ¹¹  after him. ¹² 

Exodus 31:14

31:14 So you must keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. Everyone who defiles it ¹³  must surely be put to death; indeed, ¹⁴  if anyone does ¹⁵  any ¹⁶  work on it, then that person will be cut off from among his ¹⁷  people.

Exodus 35:21

35:21 Everyone ¹⁸  whose heart stirred him to action ¹⁹  and everyone whose spirit was willing ²⁰  came and brought the offering for the Lord for the work of the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. ²¹ 

Exodus 36:1

36:1 So Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person ²²  in whom the Lord has put skill ²³  and ability ²⁴  to know how ²⁵  to do all the work for the service ²⁶  of the sanctuary are to do the work ²⁷  according to all that the Lord has commanded.”

Exodus 36:3

36:3 and they received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to do ²⁸  the work for the service of the sanctuary, and they still continued to bring him a freewill offering each morning. ²⁹ 

Exodus 38:26

38:26 one beka per person, that is, a half shekel, ³⁰  according to the sanctuary shekel, for everyone who crossed over to those numbered, from twenty years old or older, ³¹  603,550 in all. ³² 

[16:23]  ¹ tn The noun שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbaton) has the abstract ending on it: “resting, ceasing.” The root word means “cease” from something, more than “to rest.” The Law would make it clear that they were to cease from their normal occupations and do no common work.

[16:23]  ² tn The technical expression is now used: שַׁבַּת־קֹדֶשׁ (shabbat-qodesh, “a holy Sabbath”) meaning a “cessation of/for holiness” for Yahweh. The rest was to be characterized by holiness.

[16:23]  ³ tn The two verbs in these objective noun clauses are desiderative imperfects – “bake whatever you want to bake.”

[16:23]  ⁴ tn The word “today” is implied from the context.

[28:4]  ⁵ sn The breastpiece seems to have been a pouch of sorts or to have had a pocket, since it was folded in some way (28:16; 39:9) and contained the Urim and Thummim (Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8).

[28:4]  ⁶ sn The word “ephod” is taken over directly from Hebrew, because no one knows how to translate it, nor is there agreement about its design. It refers here to a garment worn by the priests, but the word can also refer to some kind of image for a god (Judg 8:27).

[28:4]  ⁷ tn The word תָּשְׁבֵּץ (tashbets), which describes the tunic and which appears only in this verse, is related to a verb (also rare) of the same root in 28:39 that describes making the tunic. Their meaning is uncertain (see the extended discussion in C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:473-75). A related noun describes gold fasteners and the “settings,” or “mountings,” for precious stones (28:11, 13, 14, 20, 25; 36:18; 39:6, 13, 16, 18; cf. Ps 45:14). The word “fitted” in 28:4 reflects the possibility that “the tunic is to be shaped by sewing, … so that it will fit tightly around the body” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:475).

[28:43]  ⁹ tn The construction for this temporal clause is the infinitive construct with the temporal preposition bet (ב) and the suffixed subjective genitive.

[28:43]  ¹⁰ tn This construction is also the temporal clause with the infinitive construct and the temporal preposition bet (ב) and the suffixed subjective genitive.

[28:43]  ¹¹ tn The text has וְלאֹ־יִשְׂאוּ עָוֹן וָמֵתוּ (vÿlo’-yis’u ’avon vametu). The imperfect tense here introduces a final clause, yielding a purpose or result translation (“in order that” or “so that”). The last verb is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive, and so it too is equal to a final imperfect – but it would show the result of bearing the iniquity. The idea is that if they approached the holy things with a lack of modesty, perhaps like the pagans who have nakedness and sexuality as part of the religious ritual, they would pollute the holy things, and it would be reckoned to them for iniquity and they would die.

[28:43]  ¹² tn Heb “seed.”

[28:43]  ¹³ sn So the priests were to make intercession for the people, give decisions from God’s revealed will, enter his presence in purity, and represent holiness to Yahweh. The clothing of the priests provided for these functions, but in a way that brought honor and dignity. A priest was, therefore, to serve in purity, holiness, and fear (Malachi). There is much that can be derived from this chapter to form principles of spiritual leadership, but the overall point can be worded this way: Those whom God selects to minister to the congregation through intercessory prayer, divine counsel, and sacrificial worship, must always represent the holiness of Yahweh in their activities and demeanor.

[31:14]  ¹³ tn This clause is all from one word, a Piel plural participle with a third, feminine suffix: מְחַלְלֶיהָ (mÿkhalleha, “defilers of it”). This form serves as the subject of the sentence. The word חָלַל (khalal) is the antonym of קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be holy”). It means “common, profane,” and in the Piel stem “make common, profane” or “defile.” Treating the Sabbath like an ordinary day would profane it, make it common.

[31:14]  ¹⁴ tn This is the asseverative use of כִּי (ki) meaning “surely, indeed,” for it restates the point just made (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).

[31:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the one who does.”

[31:14]  ¹⁶ tn “any” has been supplied.

[31:14]  ¹⁷ tn Literally “her” (a feminine pronoun agreeing with “soul/life,” which is grammatically feminine).

[35:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “man.”

[35:21]  ¹⁸ tn The verb means “lift up, bear, carry.” Here the subject is “heart” or will, and so the expression describes one moved within to act.

[35:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his spirit made him willing.” The verb is used in Scripture for the freewill offering that people brought (Lev 7).

[35:21]  ²⁰ tn Literally “the garments of holiness,” the genitive is the attributive genitive, marking out what type of garments these were.

[36:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “wise of [in] heart.”

[36:1]  ²² tn Heb “wisdom.”

[36:1]  ²³ tn Heb “understanding, discernment.”

[36:1]  ²⁴ tn The relative clause includes this infinitive clause that expresses either the purpose or the result of God’s giving wisdom and understanding to these folk.

[36:1]  ²⁵ tn This noun is usually given an interpretive translation. B. Jacob renders the bound relationship as “the holy task” or “the sacred task” (Exodus, 1019). The NIV makes it “constructing,” so read “the work of constructing the sanctuary.”

[36:1]  ²⁶ tn The first word of the verse is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is singular because it agrees with the first of the compound subject. The sentence is a little cumbersome because of the extended relative clause in the middle.

[36:3]  ²⁵ tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive “to do it” comes after “sanctuary”; it makes a smoother rendering in English to move it forward, rather than reading “brought for the work.”

[36:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in the morning, in the morning.”

[38:26]  ²⁹ sn The weight would be about half an ounce.

[38:26]  ³⁰ tn Heb “upward.”

[38:26]  ³¹ tn The phrase “in all” has been supplied.